Former Tory chairman Michael Ancram quits Commons

Standing down: Michael Ancram MP was caught up in the expenses scandal over the maintenance of his pool

Tory grandee Michael Ancram has became the most senior Conservative figure to announce he is standing down at the next General Election.

The former party chairman was caught up in the expenses scandal after it emerged that he had claimed almost £100 to have his swimming pool boiler serviced.

Mr Ancram, 64, who is also the Marquis of Lothian, repaid the money after insisting that he had made a 'mistake'. In a letter to the chairman of his constituency party, the MP for Devizes said he was standing down for 'health reasons'.

Mr Ancram, who is said to have resented the way that Tory leader David Cameron has treated party grandees over their expenses, wrote: 'This decision has been forced upon me by considerations of health.

'I have for the past six years successfully been on medication for coronary problems. I have, however, recently had to consider the effects of the pressures of another five years of parliamentary and constituency duties upon my health.'

Mr Ancram claimed thousands on maintaining his large country house. He insisted all the claims other than the boiler repair were necessary for maintaining his designated second home.

He stood for the Tory leadership in 2001 and was his party's deputy leader for four years. He has been an MP for more than 25 years.

Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles has recently revealed that
he expected a further 17 Tory MPs to step down before the General
Election - on top of the 13 who have already announced they are
quitting Parliament.

Tory leader David Cameron hopes that the
exodus of mainly elderly MPs, who insiders have described as 'bed
blockers', will lead to a new breed of 'fresh' Conservative MPs.

Former Tory leader William Hague paid tribute to Mr Ancram for his work on the Northern Ireland peace process.

Mr
Hague, now the shadow foreign secretary, called Mr Ancram - who has
also done that job - a 'much-valued colleague' who had performed a
crucial role as party chairman during the difficult years after the
heavy 1997 election defeat.

Mr Ancram was MP for Berwickshire and
East Lothian from February 1974 until he lost the seat in the election
of October the same year.

He then represented Edinburgh South from 1979 until he was again defeated in 1987.